LIVE: Pakistan reports fifth consecutive day decline in cases as COVID-19 tally reaches 165,062.

MUZAFFARABAD -- The novel coronavirus emerged in the central China city of Wuhan towards the end of last year and proliferated to almost the whole world within a couple of months. It's not the virulence or fatality, but the infectivity of the new virus - also known as SARS-CoV-2 - that has set off a global frenzy.

The Covid-19 respiratory illness caused By: this mysterious contagion has so far infected more than 7.9 million people in 202 countries and territories of the world - and over 435,000 of them have died and counting.

Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained coronavirus-free until February 26 when a young man from Karachi tested positive after returning from Iran - one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief hiatus following the first case, Covid-19 cases spiked as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive for the virus.

Nearly one-and-a-half months after imposing the lockdown across the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to ease the lockdown in phases.

The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 165,062 with 61,678 cases in Punjab, 62,269 in Sindh, 20,182 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 8,998 in Balochistan, 1,225 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 9,941 in Islamabad and 769 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The virus has claimed at least 3,229 lives while around 61,383 coronavirus patients have recovered.

The situation remains fluid and we're updating stats as soon as new figures are officially released.

Follow The Express Tribune's live coverage of the pandemic here.

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10:00am: 'PM Imran gave biggest relief package to 16m families'

Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed said the premier gave the biggest relief package to 16 million families for the first time in the history of the country.

The minister responded to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and said after the 18th Amendment, health became a provincial matter. However, the federal government has continued to provide face masks, ventilators and other medical equipment.

He maintained that Rs5,500 billion were given to the Sindh government for the improvement of the health sector bu the provincial government failed to utilise it properly.

line-945-15248325229:40am: CFR in Pakistan 1.93% against 5.37% globally

The National Command and Operation Centre's mortality analysis showed case fatality rate (CFR) in Pakistan 1.93 per cent against 5.37 per cent globally.

73 per cent of males, ranging from...